Chapter Three

When Tami stepped off the plane at Midland Airport three weeks later, Eric was waiting for her with a small bouquet of flowers. Her car was being repaired at a shop in Houston, after an accident for which she was not at fault, and she'd resorted to flying. Tami felt fairly confident about her finals, which she'd taken early, and she was looking forward to a much needed break before next semester.

As they were walking toward the airport parking lot, hand-in-hand, Eric said, "It's about twenty minutes to my house in Odessa. I've got two more days of school before winter break, but I can bike and you can have my truck during the day. I'll leave you the keys."

As he turned on his truck later, he said, "You'll have the guest bedroom. It's downstairs, and mine's and my parents' are upstairs." He put his arm behind her seat as he backed up. "I'll sneak down there. I have to set the alarm for 5 though. My dad's up at 5:30."

"So you're just assuming we're going to have sex tonight?"

He threw the truck into drive. "Uh…"

She smiled. "I'm teasing. Of course we are. But you could romance me first."

"I brought you flowers."

She sniffed the bouquet. "They're lovely. But did you handpick them from the side of the road, looking for only the best?"

He half turned to her and then turned back to look as he exited the parking lot to the road. "Are you serious?"

She laughed. "No. How's your dad liking his job?" Last summer, Mr. Taylor had secured a position as Athletic Director at West Odessa High School. "Still having problems with the baseball coach?"

"Nah, he worked that out I think. It's weird going to the same school where he works, even if I don't see him that often. He's usually in his office." Tami put a hand on Eric's thigh. He kept talking. "So, Friday I leave on the team bus. You'll be driving with my parents. Sorry about that." The Texas State Championships were being held in a college stadium about an hour's drive from Odessa.

"Well, your mom likes me at least." Eric's father, Tami thought, merely tolerated her. "It won't be too awkward."

"I'm nervous as hell."

She could tell. He'd hardly noticed where her hand was, and he was looking intently at the road as he drove. "You're going to win this thing, you know," she assured him. "I know you, and you're going to win this thing."

A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of an Italian restaurant. "I'm taking you to dinner. We're going to celebrate."

"You getting to go to State?"

"That and also….I made a verbal commitment." He turned off the truck, came around to her door, and opened it.

She kissed his cheek after she got out. "You're going to be a Longhorn?"

He closed the door, put his hands on her hips, and pushed her against the truck. After he'd kissed her deeply, he said, "You're going to like this. Houston Cougars."

She squealed and jumped. "UH is just twenty miles from MWU!" Next school year, they could potentially see each other every day if they wanted to.

"I know."

"But…I thought UT-Austin was trying to recruit you."

He shrugged.

"You didn't turn them down for me, did you?"

"Tami, I'm going to play a lot better if I can see you more easily."

"You've been playing pretty well this season. Maybe you need to see me less."

"Not possible," he insisted.

"How does your dad feel about it?"

"He thinks I'm making a huge mistake. But it's not his decision. I've thought about this. UT's got a strong quarterback, and he's only a sophomore. I'll have more of a chance of actual playtime at UH. If I don't get played, I don't get recognized. Grady's at UH, and he's my best friend after you. And you'll be close by. They offered me a full scholarship with books, housing, and meal allowance for every year I play."

"What if you get injured?"

"Then I can keep the scholarship until the end of that year."

"Then you lose it?" she asked.

"I'm not getting injured."

"What did UT offer you?"

He kissed her. "I'm gonna be a Cougar. That's it. End of discussion." He took her hand and tugged.

"You're sexy when you're assertive," she said.

"Yeah?" he smiled as he put a hand around her waist and led her to the restaurant. "You like that?"

[*]

When they got into Eric's house later that evening, Mrs. Taylor greeted Tami warmly, while Mr. Taylor nodded perfunctorily. Eric's mother showed her to the guest bedroom to deposit her things, and then led her back to the living room. When Mrs. Taylor sat down next to her husband, Tami was once again struck by the physical contrast between them. Mrs. Taylor was pale and petite – 5'6" and slender, with reddish-blonde hair, pale skin, and sparkling green eyes. Mr. Taylor had thick, black hair, dark eyes, and an almost Spanish complexion. He was a towering 6'2" and broad-shouldered, such that he looked every inch the offensive tackle he'd once been, for two years, in the AFL.

Mr. Taylor spoke little and soon retreated into his study to work, while Mrs. Taylor remained in the living room, quizzing Tami about her life. "How are you liking college?" she asked.

"Okay," Tami answered. "I've already decided I'm majoring in Psychology. I haven't picked a minor yet though."

"You might consider a minor in education or child development," Mrs. Taylor said. "I mean, if you have any interest in being a school guidance counselor."

For some reason, that wasn't something Tami had considered. She assumed she'd be counseling adults, but hadn't her own high school guidance counselor made a difference in her life? Where would she be today without that woman's advice? Mrs. Harrison's encouragement, along with Eric's, had helped her turn her grades around and get into college. "That's actually a good idea, Mrs. Taylor."

"Call me Betty," she said. "And you can call Eric's father James."

Eric laughed. "Yeah. I'd like to see his face when you try that."

[*]

Tami looked down at the comforter shifting and rolling as Eric made his way down beneath it, trailing ticklish kisses over her bare stomach. She'd gone to bed naked, in anticipation of him sneaking down later.

She was giggling until he pushed her legs open and tasted her with a flick of his tongue, and then she gasped and clutched the comforter, balling it in two hands.

He was really good at this. Tami didn't know why he was so good at this. He'd only had the one serious girlfriend before they'd started dating.

"God yes," she murmured. "Oh, please."

[*]

The next morning, Eric rolled out of Tami's bed at 5 AM, kissed her, and snuck back upstairs. When she finally pulled herself out, showered, and got dressed, he had already left for morning practice before school.

Mr. Taylor was sitting at the breakfast table reading the newspaper. She was surprised he hadn't left for work yet, and she felt a little uncomfortable to find herself alone with him. While he'd never been rude to her, Tami got the impression that Mr. Taylor didn't like her much.

He lowered his paper. "Good morning, Tami," he said. At least he'd stopped calling her Ms. Hayes, the way he'd done when they first started dating and all summer long.

"Morning, Mr. Taylor." She motioned to the coffee pot. "May I?"

"Of course. Cups are in the cupboard to the left of the stove. There's still bacon in the pan. I left you a plate."

She filled her plate with the three remaining slices, poured her coffee, and sat across from him at the table. "Don't you have to be at work?"

"I stayed late yesterday. I don't have much work this morning. I'll go in eventually."

"Where's Mrs. Taylor? Still sleeping?"

"She went to that nursing class you persuaded her to take." Eric's mother had quit her nursing job when he was born to be a stay-at-home mom, but she was preparing to re-enter the workforce now that he was in his last year of high school.

Tami smiled lightly. "I'm sure she makes her own decisions." They'd had a conversation over the summer, in which Mrs. Taylor mentioned feeling listless and worrying about her impending empty nest, and perhaps Tami had suggested she resume her former nursing career.

Mr. Taylor closed his newspaper and set it on the table. He studied her. "We don't need the money," he said. "I've always provided for this family."

"I don't think she's doing it for the money."

"It's going to cost money at first. All these refresher courses she's taking."

"It'll pay for itself in time," Tami told him.

"Like your psychology major? Is that going to be worth the thousands in tuition?"

"I have a full scholarship, actually."

He drummed the newspaper with his fingertips. "How did you manage that, with your grade point average?"

"It's needs-based."

"Ah, yes, I forgot that those of us who live frugally and save for our children's educations are punished for our fiscal responsibility."

"My mother lived frugally. But it's hard to save when you're supporting two children with one income on a high school education. And isn't Eric getting a football scholarship?"

"Yes. I'll be transferring part of his college savings to one of my wife's nephews."

"That's generous of you."

"They have seven children now in that family. A bit irresponsible if you ask me, but my wife expects us to help them."

Tami had always thought it a bit odd that the Taylors only had Eric. Mr. Taylor was so very Catholic. Mrs. Taylor seemed less so, but her family was religious. She wondered if there were fertility issues, but of course she wouldn't dare ask that.

Mr. Taylor stood and picked up his plate and coffee cup. "Well, I have to get to mass."

"It's Wednesday."

"I go every morning."

"Oh."

"Not something you Baptists would understand, I suppose."

"I'm Methodist, actually." Tami's mother was devoutly religious, a teetotaler and women's Bible Study leader and Sunday School teacher. She volunteered regularly at their church, which wasn't easy to do as a single mother who worked sixty hour weeks. Tami's father was still alive, somewhere, but he never sent money. Tami's mother liked to keep busy – like her daughters, she was a ball of energy, but, unlike them, she didn't have much of a social life. She and Tami's father had never officially divorced – Tami's mother had just kicked him out for his drinking and gambling and cheating and told him to come back when he was "right with the Lord." That was nine years ago, and he hadn't gotten right yet.

"Still going to church at college?" Mr. Taylor asked as he put his plate and cup in the sink. He didn't wash them. Tami supposed he left that for his wife to do.

"Well, MWU has chapel. Once a week. It's required." If it hadn't been, Tami wasn't sure she would bother.

"I can't persuade Eric to go more than once a week. Or my wife for that matter."

Tami was a little surprised he didn't simply demand they go. He'd always seemed a bit authoritarian to her.

"Eric left you a house key on the counter," he told her as he grabbed his briefcase from where it rested on a kitchen chair. "Good day." Mr. Taylor left and shut the kitchen door.

Tami looked around the empty kitchen and wondered what to do with herself until Eric came home.